| Address | 1514-1520 W. Division, Chicago, IL |
|---|---|
| Built | 1937-38 |
| Architect | Joseph A Slupkowski |
| Status | Designated Chicago Landmark |
| Designation Date | November 5, 2014 (Final)City Council Journal of the Proceedings, p. 96403 |
| Neighborhood | West Town |
| Type | Club and social hall |
| Landmark ID | L-334 |
Direct quotes from the Chicago Landmark Designation Report
“(1929-1930), all designated Chicago Landmarks. Examples of the Art Deco Style built later in the 1930s, including the Polish National Alliance Building, often combine stylized ornament with Classical-style symmetry and detailing.”
“The PNA remains today an important social organization for this community. The Polish National Alliance Building exemplifies the historic importance of Chicago's Polish-American community and the “Polish Downtown” area on Chicago's Northwest Side.”
“One of the city's largest ethnic-European groups, Polish immigrants settled in a number of Chicago neighborhoods, most prominently the neighborhoods surrounding the Polish Downtown, which was centered on the intersection of N. Milwaukee Ave., W. Division St., and N. Ashland Ave.”
“Polish immigrants first settled in this part of the Northwest Side in the 1860s near two new Roman Catholic parishes—St. Stanislaus Kostka, founded in 1867 at Noble and Bradley Streets, and eventually the largest Polish Catholic congregation in the city; and nearby Holy Trinity, founded in 1872 at Noble and Chapin Streets.”
“The Polish National Alliance Building exemplifies the historic importance of ethnic fraternal organizations, social clubs, and mutual aid societies to the social, cultural, and political development of Chicago's immigrant communities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”
“Designed by Polish- American architect Joseph A. Slupkowski, the building's rectilinear form, symmetrical massing, deeply-inset vertical window openings, and “Modern Classical” ornament, combining both traditional and non-historic details, are all hallmarks of 1930s Art Deco-style architecture.”
“The Polish National Alliance Building is a two-story with raised basement institutional office building. Its primary elevations, facing Division (south) and Bosworth (west) are clad with ornamented gray limestone, while east and north (alley) elevations are clad with unornamented common brick.”
“By 1900, the Northwest Side Polish American community centered on Milwaukee Avenue near Division Street, was known to local residents as “Stanislawowo-Trojcowo” (after the area's two earliest Polish Catholic parishes) and to the rest of Chicago as “Polish Downtown.” It was home to tens of thousands of Chicago Poles who lived, worked, learned, and worshipped within a one -square-mile area of the intersection of Division Street, Ashland Avenue, and Milwaukee Avenue, a busy traffic crossing commonly known as the “Polish Triangle." Between 1890 and 1937, the city's Polish population grew more than ten-fold to over 500,000, and Polish Downtown became the economic and cultural heart of Chicago Polonia.”
“Today, the PNA remains the largest Polish fraternal organization in the nation and one of the United States' strongest supporters of Polish statehood and culture. After its sale by the PNA, the Polish National Alliance Building became first a Social Security Administration facility, then was more recently occupied by the College of Office Technology.”